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#1 |
High King at Annuminas Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Wyoming - USA
Posts: 10,752
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Ultimate Defining Quote
I can't put my finger on this - maybe some of the rest of you could...
Many literary works have a defining, recognizable quote. Someone says it and 'everyone' with any familiarity to the story knows EXACTLY where it comes from. Examples: Shakespeare's "To be or not to be..." from 'Hamlet' and "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo..." from 'Romeo and Juliet' - and I'm sure there are SO many others. What would be the single, most defining quote from 'The Lord of the Rings' - such that, if someone says it, 'everyone' knows where it's from and what they're talking about? Or - the quote that comes most readily to mind when someone mentions the story? It'd be a shame if it came down to an 'evil' quote, but maybe: "One Ring to Rule them all..." is a strong candidate.
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My Fanfic: Letters of Firiel Tales of Nolduryon Visitors Come to Court Ñ á ë ?* ó ú é ä ï ö Ö ñ É Þ ð ß ® ™ [Xurl=Xhttp://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=ABCXYZ#postABCXYZ]text[/Xurl] Splitting Threads is SUCH Hard Work!! |
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#2 |
The Lovely Hobbit-Lass
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Bounded in a nut-shell
Posts: 1,593
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Oh definately. That's what popped into my head when I started reading your post. Maybe "Fool of a Took!" would come in somewhere in the top 10.
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#3 |
Entmoot Attorney-General,
Equilibrating the Scales of Justice, Administrator ♎ Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 3,891
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"I am no man" and definitely
"My precious..."
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An unwritten post is a delightful universe of infinite possibilities. Set down one word, however, and it immediately becomes earthbound. Set down one sentence and it’s halfway to being just like every other bloody entry that’s ever been written. ☻ |
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#4 | |
The Intermittent One
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: here and there
Posts: 4,671
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Quote:
![]() my ultimate defining quote has to be One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the land of mordor where the shadows lie |
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#5 | |
High King at Annuminas Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Wyoming - USA
Posts: 10,752
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Quote:
*cough-cough* ![]()
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My Fanfic: Letters of Firiel Tales of Nolduryon Visitors Come to Court Ñ á ë ?* ó ú é ä ï ö Ö ñ É Þ ð ß ® ™ [Xurl=Xhttp://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=ABCXYZ#postABCXYZ]text[/Xurl] Splitting Threads is SUCH Hard Work!! |
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#6 |
Orodruin's Flame
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Kananaskis, AB
Posts: 1,194
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"Great Scott!" and "This is Heavy"
Erm... wait a minute.. thats not from Tolkien.. wierd? ![]()
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Council of Entmoot - Foreign Affairs Minister - 2004-05 Visit the Ye Olde Avatar Shop and The New One Dont tell me what I cannot do Two men are on a Island, they both see a "monster", one sees a bright light, and the other sees a dark cloud My name bares no reference to the music artist. |
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#7 |
Shape-shifting, men-grabbing NAZGUL
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Mirkwood
Posts: 796
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The ring-verse!
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#8 |
Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Reality
Posts: 3,767
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a couple that stick out for me:
"It's a dangerous business going out your front door." "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." "He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom." and probably my favorite: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment."
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Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. |
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#9 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Israel
Posts: 6,975
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What about - "Even the mightiest man may be slain by one arrow."
"Fly, you fools" - is great. ![]() Last edited by Radagast The Brown : 03-18-2004 at 12:16 PM. |
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#10 |
High King at Annuminas Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Wyoming - USA
Posts: 10,752
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![]() There are a LOT of great quotes... but what one quote really defines the story?
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My Fanfic: Letters of Firiel Tales of Nolduryon Visitors Come to Court Ñ á ë ?* ó ú é ä ï ö Ö ñ É Þ ð ß ® ™ [Xurl=Xhttp://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=ABCXYZ#postABCXYZ]text[/Xurl] Splitting Threads is SUCH Hard Work!! |
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#11 |
mystical divinity of Unashamed Felinity
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: New York's beautiful North Coast -- we're all mad here!!!
Posts: 635
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I think the "One ring to rule them all..." quote is probably the defining one. It sums up the whole story very nicely.
Another one that has always stayed with me "It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand." And one of my bosses said this quote (from "The Scouring of the Shire) always stayed with him: "I am a messenger of the King!" he [Pippin] said. "You are speaking to the King' s friend, and one of the most reknowned in all the lands of the West. You are a ruffian and a fool. Down on your knees in the road and ask pardon, or I will set this troll's bane in you!" He says it shows how much life has truly changed in the Shire and how much the Hobbits have changed as well. Good point, I think.
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![]() "Never try to out-stubborn a cat!" -- R. Heinlein ~~~~~~~~~ "But I don't want to be among mad people, " Alice remarked. "Oh, but you can't help that," said the Cat; "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." ~~ Lewis Carroll ~~~~~~~~~~~ Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana... |
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#12 |
Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Reality
Posts: 3,767
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how about frodo:
"It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."
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Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. |
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#13 | |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: In me taters
Posts: 3,288
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I'd agree with
Quote:
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#14 |
Viggoholic
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,749
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How about "Well, I'm back?" Maybe a bit too simple, but I find myself saying it a lot. Then, I am a Tolkien geek.
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Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. |
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#15 |
"The Bomb"
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: all over the place
Posts: 1,601
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![]() "You can not pass," he said... "I am a Servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass"
This paragraph defines the story! It shows how desperate the Felowship's adventure was (notice how Gandalf "said" to the Balrog... He was Weary and didn't want to lift his staff.), and shows their dedication, and the power and wisdom of Gandalf in particular, and the importance of protecting Frodo with the Ring, as well as being one of the main plot points, and nothing leaves a more lasting impression on the reader (at least me), and it's just so awesome.
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Could it be that one path to enlightenment leads through insanity? |
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#16 | |
Fair Dinkum
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 2,319
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Quote:
![]() The thing is, if you heard it but didn't remember the story well, you wouldn't be able to pinpoint its source. That's why I go with 'One Ring to rule them all'. There's no denying it comes from LotR. I like these too: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." and "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?" |
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#17 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Edinburgh University Library
Posts: 410
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"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." is my personal favourite along with Frodo's corresponding line about the elves.
Oh and "I'm Back" You know if I carry on the way my mind is going I'd end up just typing out the book. It's a defining book.
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Destroy the dementors not the demented. Dont heckle the supervillain Note to Self: Remember that sarcasm is hard to detect from text. What ever you do, don't click this link! my LJ |
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#18 |
Thief Queen of Entmoot
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: oh, I just wander around, aimlessly...
Posts: 1,060
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![]() the best quotes are "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are stubborn and quick to anger." and "I'm hungry; what is the time?". my favorites are "Fool of a Took" and "I am no man!" but i thik the two most definning quotes are "One Ring to rule them all..." and "My precious"
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*smooch* Proud Member of the Evil Mooters and upstanding citizen of the Planet Bob! And all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be... My Space! Cynicism is what happens when a person opens their eyes; stops blinking in the sun, and starts wondering "why". Question everything, believe only that which you yourself deem true. Go ahead- Call me cynical. |
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#19 |
founder of the color blue
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: E-Space
Posts: 1,727
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I'd have to go with "One ring to rule them all...". That is so ubiquitious (Sp?) that whenever anyone hears it, they think of Lord of the Rings, and hobbits and stuff.
My favorite, however, is the poem, "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began..." I love that poem, and it pretty much hits the underlying theme from the book. For example, the road started at Bilbo's door when he left for the Lonely Mountain in the Hobbit, and look where it ended up. Right back in the Shire, with many people dead, and almost everyone changed (except for Sam, he somehow managed to keep the same, because he is a stalwart rock in a field of clay)
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Well, there it is. |
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#20 | ||
Co-President of Entmoot
Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 8,397
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Dwarven Sen was referring to
"Do not go to the Elves for council, for they will say both no and yes." I think "Do not meddle..." is a defining line. LotR is too complex to have only one though, in my opinion. But this is a good one because it's even paraphrased by Babylon 5! (In the episode with the Technomages, seasion three I think.)
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"I can add some more, if you'd like it. Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to Punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools." - Sam Gamgee, p. 340, Return of the King Quote:
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